Denver mayor, Broncos pursuing Super Bowl bid for 2018, 2019 or 2020

The NFL football Super Bowl XLVI sign on the Monument Circle in Indianapolis in 2012. (The Associated Press)

A goal of NFL fanatic Denver Mayor Michael Hancock's is to bring the Super Bowl to the Mile High City — and steps are being made to do just that.

The Denver Broncos and Visit Denver in late August submitted an application to the NFL's Super Bowl Advisory Committee to bid to host the event in 2018, 2019 or 2020.

"We will pursue it along with Visit Denver," Hancock said in a meeting with The Denver Post editorial board Wednesday. "I think Denver would be head and shoulders above any other city to compete to host a Super Bowl."

Sometime next year, the NFL will name the cities eligible to submit an official bid to host America's most widely watched sporting event .

Already, Minneapolis, New Orleans and Indianapolis have said they are vying for 2018 — the winner of which would be announced at the NFL owners meeting in May 2014.

"This is a very preliminary step," said Richard Scharf, president and chief executive of Visit Denver, the city's convention and visitors bureau. "The (application) is one of those things in the process, to get your foot in the door."

The Broncos and Visit Denver submitted a similar request in 2010 for the 2015 game, which ended up going to Phoenix. But Denver made no formal bid at that time.

Hancock and Scharf said the 2014 game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., will be a big test as the first outdoor Super Bowl in a cold-weather city.

If that game is a success, Denver wouldn't be such a long shot, Scharf said.

"The New Jersey game is going to tell a good story on how that works in an outdoor venue," Scharf said. "We have daily highs that are above Indianapolis and New York. We are 10 degrees warmer than Indianapolis and 7 degrees warmer than New York in February. That is also our second-driest month of the year. It is not totally out of the question."

Sports Authority Field at Mile High. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

Broncos spokesman Patrick Smyth said owner Pat Bowlen "has always maintained an interest in bringing the Super Bowl to this community and the great football fans of the Rocky Mountain region. He believes the city of Denver, along with the Broncos, would be excellent hosts."

Hancock's meeting with the editorial board was to review 2012, which has arguably been a successful year for the first-term mayor.

Earlier this month, he saw voters overwhelmingly approve a ballot measure to "de-Bruce" the city's property-tax revenue and bring an additional $44 million to the city's stressed general fund. The 74 percent approval could be seen as a mandate for Hancock, who has had several other successes.

He landed three international flights out of Denver International Airport.

He hired a new police chief who started in 2011 but imposed myriad changes this year.

He saw the passage of a controversial ordinance that banned homeless camping as a way to reduce the numbers of homeless people in the city center.

He was able to announce that the National Western Stock Show, Rodeo & Horse Show would stay in Denver. His team is working with Visit Denver to reimagine what a new stock-show complex could be.

But, of course, all those accomplishments would pale in comparison to scoring a Super Bowl.